Listen up, coach's wife, not just anyone can sit where you sit.
It's not for the faint of heart or the thin-skinned. Not many will understand the strength and backbone it takes to support and encourage your husband and his team.
Few friends will be able to relate to the relationship that you have with that win-loss record. They won't understand the long walk down from the bleachers after a loss. And they certainly will never know the dilemma of wanting to defend your husband's honor to a crew of daddies in the stands that think "better clock management" would have defeated the reigning state champions.
You and I know your husband could not do this job and run this program without you.
We know that every detail that you tend to allows him to do this job that he loves.
We both know that you are the only voice that might be one of encouragement that he hears on any given day.
We both know that if it came down to it, he'd choose you and your family over any team, but you wouldn't ask him to.
Because when you married him, you married his calling. His dream. So, does this leave you as the forever assistant? Are you just the side-kick that makes the moves and follows the lights? Do you suck it up, dig deep, and white-knuckle it through the rest of the seasons?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Listen, you may not get one interview or quote in the paper. You may not hear words of praise or receive any applause, but you are no less, or secondary, in this position! Your role is different, not inferior. You were not an afterthought in this appointment.
If I've learned anything from the stands and in this role as a coach's wife, it's that God doesn't call one of you without the other.
He doesn't just make a way for your husband. He is in every detail of your role and is tender to every place in your heart. So let me encourage you, the true warrior of the family.
When you start to believe those bald-headed daddies on the 50-yard line are too much, remember that they will soon fade away with this year's seniors. When the long days and late nights take a toll on your husband's health, and his light starts to dim, you literally help light the fuse for an entire community. You are the one doing it all out of passion, not obligation, and that is not just honorable. It is a down-in-the-trenches kind of work with an impact that far outlasts any win-loss record!
Surround yourself with your people. Keep it tight, and don't let anyone steal the joy of being a part of something bigger than yourself. And proceed like the Friday night queen you are, knowing that a host of us are sitting on the 50 alongside you!